By JULIE ASH
Auckland will wait until the last minute to decide if Sam Tuitupou takes the field in their semifinal clash against Otago at Carisbrook on Saturday night.
The hard-charging second five-eighth, who has spent several weeks sidelined with a shoulder injury, returned last weekend for Auckland's 40-31 win over
Canterbury, where he immediately made an impact.
"He did amazingly well for a guy that wasn't 100 per cent," coach Wayne Pivac said.
"But he has a big heart and is a tough young man.
"He took a couple of knocks during the game which have set his shoulder back a little, but it is certainly nowhere near as bad as it was after the Taranaki game."
Pivac said they "hold out a little bit of hope" for this weekend, but will leave the decision until as late as possible.
"He will travel down with the team and we'll make the call as late as Friday afternoon or Saturday morning," he said.
If Tuitupou does not recover sufficiently, his place will go to Tane Tuipulotu.
Tuipulotu is bracketed with Tuitupou, and also with Isa Nacewa in the reserves.
Nacewa is the only new name in the squad from last weekend's trip to Christchurch. He comes in for Benson Stanley.
Auckland's last trip to Carisbrook, in the opening round of the NPC, produced a 6-3 loss to Otago.
That result has little bearing on the semifinal and much has happened since that miserable night.
"As coaches we put up our hands and take some of the blame for that because we changed our tactics on the evening of the game when we saw how cold and wet it was," Pivac said.
"We probably went away from the open game we have had since. We won't really look back too much on that match.
"I think no matter what the conditions are this time we will be trying to express ourselves."
NPC points table
